On May 23, 1940, Maserati celebrated a fantastic victory at the Targa Florio. For the fourth time in a row, a car from the company with the trident was the first to cross the finish line of the prestigious race in Sicily. At the wheel of the Maserati Tipo 4CL was Luigi "Gigi" Villoresi.
Development of a new super sports car for the 80th anniversary
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of this historic success, Maserati returned to Sicily with an MC20 prototype and drove it along some of the roads where the history of the Targa Florio was written, such as the track where the famous Floriopoli grandstands are located. The development of the new super sports car includes numerous tests under different operating conditions, with the aim of gathering data and information for the final fine-tuning.
After an initial series of tests carried out with the dynamic simulator at the Maserati Innovation Lab in Modena, the time has now come for road and track tests.
The MC20 marks the beginning of a new era for the Italian sports car manufacturer, both in terms of design and technology. The MC20 is also the first model to be fitted with the new engine developed and built in-house by Maserati and full of technological innovations.
With the launch of the MC20 in September, Maserati aims to underline its sporting DNA and return to a leading role on the racetracks after winning its last world championship in 2010 with the MC12.
The 4CL
Developed in 1939, this single-seater was the brainchild of Ernesto Maserati, the youngest of Maserati's founding brothers, who wanted to design a car that would be competitive in the "Voiturette" class. The 4CL, with a displacement of 1491 cc, was built on the chassis of the 6CM but fitted with a new four-cylinder engine with four valves per cylinder, the first of its kind in Maserati's history. It was an extremely advanced engine for its time, with internal dimensions of 78 x78 mm, which developed 220 hp at 8,000 rpm with the help of a turbocharger.
At its racing debut in Tripoli, at the 1939 Libyan Grand Prix, Gigi Villoresi took pole position with the aerodynamic version of the 4CL. Two Grand Prix later, in Naples, the Englishman John Peter Wakefield achieved the first victory with the 4CL. Two further victories followed in France at the races in Picardy and Albi.
In the second half of the 1930s, the Targa Florio was held in Palermo on a 40-lap race track laid out in Favorita Park.
Villoresi won the last race held in Italy and Europe before the outbreak of the Second World War, a result that confirmed the supremacy of the Modena-based constructor.
Further victories were to follow in the post-war period. At the wheel of the 4CL, Villoresi won the Nice Grand Prix in April 1946. This was followed by further victories with the Frenchman Raymond Sommer, the Englishman Reg Parnell and the legendary Italian Tazio Nuvolari at the wheel. Further victories were recorded in 1947. In 1948, the 4CL was replaced by the 4CLT with a new tubular chassis and intake system with a two-stage turbocharger.
